Other Worlds
by OrdinaryMortal
Summary: What would have happened if Severus had found the courage to apologise? What would have happened if Lily had found the courage to welcome him back? What would have happened if they'd just all had that little space to grow up? Some things will stay the same. But some things will change. And that divergence could mean the difference between life and death, love and bitterness.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Ties That Bind

Lucius Malfoy gestured to Severus Snape to sit, closing the door to the library softly, shutting out the genteel noises of a pure blood christening party.

'My dear Severus, thank you so much for standing on behalf of Draco. Narcissa and I are so pleased at your closer ties to our little family.'

Severus smiled as he sipped at the truly excellent firewhisky. 'I am honoured that you chose me as Draco's Godfather, Lucius, and you have my word that I will always strive for his benefit'.

'There, that should be vague enough to keep my word while doing as I think needful, rather than follow Lucius' demands', he thought to himself, carefully keeping his thoughts occluded. Lucius was not the Legilmens he thought himself, but it paid to be careful. There was undoubtedly fondness for him in Lucius' private thoughts - his appointment as Draco's godfather proved that - but he could never forget that Malfoys always, always had an agenda. Lucius had been pressing Lord Voldemort's agenda as well as his own for the last three years, and Severus thought he had done well to avoid being pinned down so long, citing his near completed Potions studies as his reason for keeping to the side.

It was no secret in this house that Lord Voldemort's wanted Severus to join his endeavour. While his father was a filthy muggle even in Severus' eyes, his mother's family were honoured by those who respected the Dark Arts, and their influence spread wide. His potions expertise had already brought him renown as the youngest student ever to be this close to his Potions Mastery, and his Mastery study reworking Belby's Wolfsbane Potion had some unusually secretive yet generous sponsors, which in addition to Lucius' financial assistance had done much to ensure he could study at all.

The fact that his father had hated the magical world, as well as his unwanted child, and had done everything he could to keep his wife and son in magical disdain, had meant a visible distance between them and her family, and Severus had grown up in grinding poverty, resented by his House at school and tormented by the Gryffindors, in particular after the spectacular row with Lily. Lucius and Narcissa had swept into the void like glittering Angels, smoothing the path before him in so many ways. He didn't know, looking back, how much of that had been done at Voldemort's direction, but for a lost and off balance school kid it had made a big difference.

Both had left school before he swallowed his pride and wrote to Lily, apologising. It had taken a lot of work between them both for their friendship to heal, and a lot of work on Lily's part with the self-styled Marauders, before a truce was called. Almost against his will James Potter had seen parallels between Severus' life and Sirius'; his protective streak had kicked in, and Severus found himself welcome at the little cottage in Godric's Hollow just as much as he was at Lucius' Wiltshire mansion.

The two social circles were kept wide apart, naturally. Returning for the summer vacation from Italy, Severus had been struck by the similarities between the two. Both had their honoured patriarch - Lord Voldemort, of course, for the Malfoys and their peers; Dumbledore for the Potters. Severus had too long watched Dumbledore's machinations, playing Slytherin against Gryffindor all his school years, to be comfortable around the old bat, and he suspected that Voldemort's tactics in attracting followers were not so different. The Dark Lord was evidently deeply partial to Lucius, although Severus sometimes felt that Narcissa was a little cool; and He was clearly fond of the LeStrange trio, but there was ... something off about just how attached they were to him.

He wasn't stupid. It was unlikely that the Death Eater terrorist actions were, as Lucius and Nott claimed, the activities of independent groups taking intellectual theorisation to physical extremes, but he couldn't imagine the cultured Lucius sinking to violence. There was enough doubt to delay his making a decision before he had to, but Severus was increasingly certain that he would turn down Lucius' urgings to join the 'Inner Circle', as he called those closest to the mysterious Lord Voldemort, once his Mastery was completed.

He took another sip of the firewhisky, waiting for Lucius' rather rambling account of his latest political dealings to be done and for him to get to the point of their seclusion from the party, for there was always a point; some small favour, perhaps a series of potions or an introduction desired. Perhaps Lucius wanted to buck the Malfoy tradition and beget a 'spare' to accompany the Heir squalling in the other room, although given the potions both had required this time around, probably not.

Through the latest bills working through the Ministry via the latest Abraxan colt born in the stables (and named Dragon in honour of his son), Lucius delicately directed the conversation round to Severus' post Mastery intentions.

'How long do you have, do you think, before your studies in Florence are completed? I know the Dark Lord is most keen to assist a new Potions Master to flourish in this fair island. We have so few, after all. Such a shame.'

Severus nodded. Unsure quite where Lucius was going, he toyed with a couple of potential replies, before deciding: 'There is a lamentable lack of Potions expertise and research in this country. Without your support...' Lucius made a small motion of dismissal. 'You can't avoid my thanks, Lucius. Without that assistance, I would not be in this position, and with no direct Ministry assistance with apprenticeship support, I must wonder how many wizards we lose to other, more foresighted countries.' That should have been a big enough hook to reel in the purpose of this meeting, Severus thought, reassured by the minute relaxation Lucius displayed.

'Of course. The Dark Lord is of your mind in this, and was speaking of this last time we met.' He leaned forward. 'Have you considered sharing your knowledge with others, Severus? I can't help but think that an expert boosting visibility and enthusiasm for Potions, particularly amongst the young, would invigorate the craft within, perchance, five years, and, of course, raise your profile as pre-eminent in the field.'

Only his superb occlumency skills prevented Severus's mental shudder being physically visible. Gods, returning to Hogwarts in any capacity? Not to be endured at any cost, as Lucius must be aware. So what was this about?

'The craft does need more apprentices', he carefully agreed. 'Although I have not had the luxury of time to consider my next steps, of course.'

Lucius sat back, regally, in his chair. 'Yes, yes, of course', he mused.'Still, I have been contacted regarding your future plans by Professor Slughorn. He grows weary of teaching at his age, and has private plans to retire at the end of this coming school year. As yet, of course, he has not disclosed this to the Board, hoping, he says, to time his withdrawal from Hogwarts with your graduation from the Academy. With his Emeritus support, as well as that of myself and our allies both on and off the Board, you could very well find yourself as not only Hogwarts' Potion Master, but also it's youngest ever Head of Slytherin House. Severus, dear friend, think of the opportunities such roles would afford all of us in this community. The connections, the influence, the opportunity to mould young minds correctly. My Lord was most enthusiastic that I recommend this opportunity with all at my disposal to you, and would exert his influence on your behalf. Combined with all our hopes for next summer, this truly is the start of a golden time, Severus, a golden age.'

And there it was. The message was clear. Lord Voldemort wanted Severus, both in his Inner Circle and at Hogwarts, and would be severely displeased if he refused either. Idly Severus wondered at the pressure that must have been 'exerted' on Slughorn, who, at a mere 60 years old, was nowhere near retirement age. If he had ever entertained any notion at returning to his own personal hell, it would have been a perfect inducement and threat combined. As it was, he had less than a year, on this timetable, to find a way out of the trap. There was no way he could slow down his research any more than he had; given his aptitude for Potions, his Master was fully aware he could submit his findings tomorrow and obtain Distinction, and clearly assumed Severus had a paramour in Florence and wished to stretch his apprenticeship over the traditional four years.

'Lucius, I fear we have been away from my Godson too long, but I must say this idea is extremely interesting, and has opened up a new potential for the next few years. I am, as ever, deeply grateful.'

Both men stood, and Lucius gracefully extended his hand for Severus to precede him.

'I am delighted to hear this, Severus. Do let me know as soon as you can where your decision lies, and I will be pleased to start the necessary wheels in motion. Shall we return?'

The delicate threat delivered and understood, Severus turned to leave the library, plans to visit Godric's Hollow already forming as the swell of conversation rose with the opening door.


	2. Chapter 2

H.E.P. Ch 2: The Best Laid Plans.

'Ok', said Sirius, clearing his throat. 'Sounds like you're right in the shit, then. Neck deep, in fact. Swimming in the kaka.'

'For fucks sake, Siri, I think we all got that from Sev, thanks', sighed Lily, her head resting on her arms. James looked up at his best friend. 'Pads, stop being a wind up merchant, ok? Lils is knackered from Harry, Sev's stressed to hell and back, and you are pumping out adrenaline to the point that Moony is twitching.'

Remus stood up and dumped his coffee into the sink, before muttering the spell for his favourite camomile tisane. 'S'ok, I shouldn't be caffeinated this close to moonrise anyway, you just reminded me.'

'Fine, spoil my fun', grumbled Sirius, but the raised eyebrow James shot him calmed him down. Severus hadn't really noticed anyway, but sat staring at his firewhisky as though he could lose himself in the glowing gold liquid.

'Ok. Sev has, at best, a couple of months to spare before coming back to the Malfoys with a decision. Any ideas?' As usual, Lily commandeered the group back to the point.

Remus cleared his throat. 'So, this cousin of yours, the Mysteries guy; he thinks you should do it?'

Severus nodded.

'And you are positive, 100% definite, that he's not involved with Voldie's gang already.'

'Merlin, no. Absolutely not. He wants me to report back to him, in point of fact. They haven't been able to get anyone in, although they think Rookwood is reporting Mysteries business to Voldemort.'

'Would not like to be him when they decide to bring him in', muttered Sirius. Severus grimaced, nodding.

'Well you know how I feel', Lily said, firmly. 'You'll hate every minute of teaching and you know it, and even if that wasn't a perfectly sane reason for not Doing it, there's the whole Death Eater thing. The whole 'fringe group' posturing in the Prophet is so much utter bollocks; we've been tailing some of these for months, and till I went on leave it was obvious to everyone but that plonker Fudge that the LeStrange brothers, Avery and their slimy friends down Knockturn are controlling most of the gang activity, we just haven't got them red handed yet.'

'Fudge is refusing to sign off on half the warrants because he's scared shitless he'll fuck up his political ambitions, so we can't even get into dear Bella's house. The higher ups in this group are wealthy and tighter than a duck's arse. I say we need Severus in there. Sorry, mate, but, well, they are approaching you for this. They obviously think you check out ok', and almost idly James reached out and cuffed Sirius at his indistinct mutter, 'and we can't fake that kind of credentials. Even Mysteries can't.'

'We'll come and visit you at Hogwarts every Hogsmeade weekend', grinned Sirius. Severus levelled a glare at him. 'Hound of Hell, you are not coming ANYWHERE near that school if I decide to do this. Magical tattoos binding me to a fascist lunatic are one thing, you bouncing around near my potions are something else completely.'

'That does raise a good point', Remus mildly interjected. 'Do we know what the tattoo does?'

'Well everyone calling themselves a Death Eater has one.' Lily replied'. 'They burn, apparently, when they are called to action, but we're getting the low level grunts, mostly, and even under Veritaserum they don't know the identity of the one who calls them, as they all wear masks at their meetings. Which they're side-alonged to, in circles, so they can't even give us that. Oh, and we've had a report of what sounds like Cruciatus spasms from one we liberated from Muggle jail, but he was dead by the time the Healers got to him.'

'Lucius has one under a very good glamour, but then he and Narcissa always were good at charms', Severus mused. 'I haven't seen one on Narcissa.'

'You won't either,' Sirius stated. 'It's the Black way. Keep at least a couple of family members a few steps back from true involvement in a cause so they can pull the others out if it goes tits up. The Malfoy money will protect Lucius to a certain extent anyway, but she'll remain dutiful but stain free.'

'Have Mysteries worked out the spell work on it at all?' Remus asked.

James shook his head. 'It fades over six hours on corpses, apparently, so there are limits. The first one had a Cruciatus linkage, so when they tried to amend the image it practically shocked the poor bugger back to life, which was a neat trick given he didn't have a head. So they can't score it through to null want to develop a revealing potion to show the curse layers, which will take time and living subjects, which of course violates every protocol going, and while the goblins don't worry so much about the ethics of medical experiments they care very much about the ethics of experimenting on customers, so Mysteries are negotiating that at the moment.'

'Alright then. Pros please', said Lily, rapping on the table.

'Puts Sev right inside the Inner Circle. He can use the 'Pure Soul for Potions' rationale for avoiding Death Eater activity, give us and The Order information about what the ever loving fuck they're planning', said Sirius.

'His cousin gives him a certain amount of cover that I don't think even Dumbledore can manage. Letters of authentication in Mysteries, that kind of thing' chipped in James.

'Cons? asked Remus.

Yes, for one, it's pretty fucking dangerous for a civilian, which is what you are, Sev. Two, magical fucking tattoo which has the Cruciatus curse woven in, for Morgana's sake, and three, Dumbledore has always treated you like a second class citizen so why the fuck do you want to do it?' Exasperated, Lily slammed her hand on the table. They all froze as the monitoring spell on Harry sounded his fussing into the kitchen, but relaxed as the baby obviously fell back to sleep.

'So reason four would be Lily doesn't want me to do it', said Severus drily.

'The con side is longer', said Remus.

'I don't think the cons outweigh the pros though, and looking at your faces, James, Sirius, even you, Wolf, I think you agree with me. I don't think anyone else can get in like this, and I think, given what's been happening, we're going to need someone, and soon. Plus, I can carry on my potions work when I'm not trying to stop an entire house being swallowed up by Voldemort, without giving away that to him, Lucius or any spies he might have, so I can comp certain potions as part of my benefits package. Lastly I can try and set up a network to get muggleborns out if his policies start going through. Unless Dumbledore is doing that, no one else is going to, and he's so confident everyone will learn to love each other that there's no way he has.'

'You have to sort out an escape route for you first, Sev, or we're not going to let you do it.' As surprising as it would have been even a year ago, it was James' firm voice that laid down the group's ultimatum. There was a long pause as Severus gazed darkly into James' face, but in the end he nodded.

'Fine', Lily said wearily. 'We need you to talk to your cousin and come up with paperwork covering your arse for all this, we need to make contacts for extraction points for you and muggleborns and families, we need to find out where the fuck Peter is this month, you need to time finishing your studies for what, June? And I need to go to bed before I pass out, because Harry will wake up in two hours wanting food.' She looked directly at Severus. 'You are ours first, Sev, and if you are going to do this stupid thing then you have to let us help you. Even Pads. Be snarly at each other in public, but at home, we're pack, and we have all got your back. And if anyone, anyone at all wakes up Harry on the way out, then you either learn to lactate in a hurry or rock him for the next two hours, maybe three.'

As she walked off up the stairs, Sirius, Severus and Remus started gathering their things quietly together, ready to leave. On the doorstep outside, as Sirius bummed a cigarette off Remus and they all lit up, Severus decided he was going to get something that had been bothering him for a while off his chest.

'Where is Pettigrew, anyway? I thought you guys were close, but I haven't seen him since school.'

Sirius and Remus glanced at each other, and gestured for him to follow them across the garden to the corner the Harley was parked on.

'I'm guessing that wasn't a casual question, so we need to talk.' For once Sirius was completely focused on Severus, who suddenly had an insight into Auror Black, rather than Sirius or Padfoot. It was actually rather reassuring.

'Peter has always been a bit cagey, a bit on the edge, but he went a bit weird just after school ended. I don't even think he knows you're, well, like Lily said, pack. I haven't spoken to him for, what, two years?' He turned to a Remus, who nodded, and picked up the conversation. 'There was a card from Leipzig and a stuffed toy rat -you know he's a rat animagus, don't you? - when Harry was born, and a couple of letters at birthdays, but he's apparently researching ritual magic in Eastern Europe for a book with Coppers & Fielding.'

'Which is bloody odd, if you ask me, because if anyone was going to be a writer, it would be Remy here. The guy who rewrote Peter's essays for seven bloody years because he had as much grasp on grammar as a hinkypunk has of quidditch. So I asked after him at Coppers, and they've never heard of him.' Sirius tool a drag on his cigarette as Remus took over again.

'Now, he could be writing on spec, like Dumbledore says, but he made it sound like this was a contracted book. Rather lorded it over me, if I'm honest, which is Peter all over if he thinks he's scored a point.'

'Thing is, he can be a bit economical with the truth, can Peter, and hard to pin down. Fun at school, sort of, but times like these, he's not someone you can absolutely trust to have your back unless he's trying to hide behind you.'

'A bit harsh, Pads...' murmured Remus. Sirius sighed, and shook his head. 'Look', he said, looking directly at Severus as he flicked his cigarette into the road. 'None of us have mentioned you to him, because we don't know anymore what his reaction would be. It might be that whole growing up and apart thing, it might be that he always was a little odd, looking back, but if he is searching out leylines and sacrificing goats, then what he doesn't know makes no difference. And if he is cutting loose, then he doesn't need to know. But something is tickling the back of my neck about this, and after two years training and two on the job, I've learned to pay attention to that, 'cause if something feels shady, it generally is. And Peter is acting as shady as fuck. So, I think you should steer clear if he turns up, and we'll warn you if he does, but I'd suggest keeping your eyes open. And on that note, coming Moony?'

Surprisingly, Remus reached over and gave Severus a quick hug. 'For luck', he smiled. Severus sniffed. 'I'm not the one getting on that death trap with the Hell Hound, thank you very much'. But he threw a quick half smile their way, and as the ridiculous machine started up Severus turned smartly on his heels and disapparated .


End file.
